Helen Kemp Porter, 10 November 1899 - 7 December 1987

Extract

Helen Porter (née Archbold) was born in 1899 at Place Hale, Farnham in Surrey. She was the younger of two daughters of George Kemp Archbold M. A. and Caroline Emily Broughton (née Whitehead). Helen maintained a lifelong attachment to her elder sister, Dorothy. The family was essentially educated middle class. George Archbold was the son of the vicar of Thorpe Hamlet, Norwich. He was educated at Norwich Grammar School and went to Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, to read classics. He became a schoolteacher and until 1914 coached candidates for universities and also for army commissions for entry into Woolwich and Sandhurst Military Academies. In 1915 he was appointed as second master at Aysgarth Preparatory School, Bedale, Yorkshire. He invested money in the school and became a partner. He was a very popular master and was recalled to the school after initially leaving in 1918 and then remained until final retirement at the age of 72. He died in 1944. Mrs Archbold was educated at home and at a finishing school in Switzerland. She trained as a professional singer at the Conservatoire in Brussels where for a few years her parents resided. She was related to small land owner (county) families. Helen spoke of her mother as an energetic person excelling in the domestic virtues with a deep sense of duty to her family. Her recreation was music.

Footnotes

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